Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Friday renewed calls to amend the 1987 Constitution, warning that the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling dismissing the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte has effectively rewritten the law and left Congress powerless.
“What we can do is meet with them—Congress, House of Representatives. Ang nakikita ko na outright solution dito… palitan na natin ang Constitution,” Sotto said in an online interview, stressing that lawmakers could be left waiting for decades without reforms.
He criticized the court’s decision, noting the absence of dissenting or separate opinions.
“Kailangan ma-retire ng mga Supreme Court justices na ito para magbago kaisipan. Kasi unanimous, wala man lang dissenting opinion, wala man lang opinion otherwise na may sinabi na ganito kaya ako bumoto, explanation, wala man lang. So nakakapagtaka,” he said.
Sotto, who previously opposed constitutional conventions and assemblies, said he is now open to them.
“Ako ayoko ng ConCon, ayoko ng Constituent Assembly pero pagkaganyan ng usapan, payag na ako,” he added.
Echoing concerns of constitutional framers and legal experts, he described the ruling as judicial overreach and argued it undermined the intent of the Charter, which allowed impeachment complaints backed by one-third of House members to be transmitted immediately.
“Bakit natin pahihirapin? Katulad ng ginawa ngayon at humihirap na. Kaya sabi ko, forgive me, but I think impeachment is an impossible dream,” Sotto said.
He emphasized his criticism was based on principle, not personalities.
“My position and my comments have nothing to do with personalities. It has nothing to do with VP Sara. It is the principle,” he said.
“Walang personalidad dito whether it’s the impeachment of the filed impeachment for President (Bongbong) Marcos or Vice President (Sara) Duterte, it has nothing to do with that.”